Why such an extensive programme about Africa now? The answer is: it should have been made much earlier. Africa has been neglected. African cinema has been neglected. By us and by Africa itself. That’s why this programme has to be ambitious and broad. It has to comprise many aspects, have a self-assured form and be presented in a certain context. That’s why the programme fills the whole building: the auditoria, but also the other spaces. Aptly, one of today’s most important African artists, Pascale Marthine Tayou, has created an environment in which the various parts are presented. For this, he adapted the impressive installation he showed at the recent Biennial in Venice.
The programme Where is Africa is made up of two major sections, each with their own accents. Alice Smits and Lee Ellickson, the directors of the Amakula Film Festival in Uganda, present a broad programme with new films as well as a unique historic programme in which film pioneers from the 1960s are put back in the spotlight. In addition, they are organising several special film screenings with live music accompaniment. In this way, the African film heritage is impressively dusted off.
Festival programmer Gertjan Zuilhof took a journey through today’s Africa, visiting ten different countries and taking in his wake a different international film maker to each one. They joined his encounters with the local film makers and made a film about their own impressions on the spot. The encounters with local film makers from Angola to Zambia yielded a series of projects, some of which are being presented in this program under the title Forget Africa. The activities of the international film makers provided several striking cooperative ventures with local film makers, which could be an inspiration for future projects. Working concretely on a small-scale film production often turned out to be an inspiring and educational experience.
It cannot be our intention to leave African cinema alone after this extensive project. With effective instruments such as the CineMart and the Hubert Bals Fund, Rotterdam will continue on the path it is now taking.